That
last song we sang, “Faith Of Our Fathers,” is a wonderful Christian hymn. However,
it is a hymn that brings sadness to the hearts of those of us who were raised
by fathers without faith. May I say to you that it is a great tragedy when a
child is raised apart from the Christian faith.

I
have endured a great deal of heartache and agony in attempting to prepare a
message for Grandparents Day today. I wrestled and fretted no end in an attempt
to develop a message from God’s Word that would be both meaningful and helpful
to people of all ages, while at the same time honoring you who are
grandparents. I always want to be respectful toward those of you here today who
are older than I am, particularly to those of you who have the blessed
experience of being grandparents. At the same time, I want to speak the truth
in love as a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As well, I want
to speak to matters that transcend a single generation, dealing with matters of
eternal significance. For that reason, I would like you to turn in your Bible
to Proverbs 13.22, where we find in the first half of the verse the words, “A
good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children.”

I
have a very good friend, a long time preacher who is well known and greatly
loved by the people here at CalvaryRoadBaptistChurch.
We have been friends for approaching thirty years (he has spoken here many
times). We have talked about important issues over that span of time, sharing
in each other’s hopes and desires, each other’s concerns and great fears. Repeatedly,
my friend has voiced his concern for his grandchildren by saying, “I am not so
much concerned about the world my children will have to live in, but I greatly
fear for my grandchildren. The world they will have to live in will be far
worse than anything I can imagine.” I agree with him. The world, especially our
nation that has enjoyed so many of God’s richest blessings, is not getting any
better.

If
I may set out on a path to bring this message from God’s Word around to a more
personal basis, please take note that Solomon made the declaration that a good
man leaves something for his grandchildren. Of course, the principle equally
applies to grandmothers leaving something for their grandchildren. When this
verse was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to be written by the hand of King
Solomon three thousand years ago, life was considerably simpler than it is
today. Harder, but simpler. What good grandparents gave to their grandchildren
was three basic items: First, grandparents gave to their grandchildren one of
their two parents. Second, grandparents gave to their grandchildren inherited
land that was passed down from generation to generation according to the Law of
Moses. The grandparents were expected to hold on to the land and not lose it
through mismanagement or irresponsibility of any kind. Third, grandparents were
expected to handle their personal finances well enough so that they, their
children, and their grandchildren did not end up slaves to pay off the debts
they had incurred.

In
our day, the prevailing cultural trends are quite different than were found in
the Middle East of long ago. Instead of grandparents
sensing that their duty and obligation is to give something to their
grandchildren, the trend these days is for most grandparents to take from
their grandchildren. I am quite sure that no one I know who is a grandparent or
a great grandparent has intentionally thought this way, but consider what has
happened in the United States
and Western Europe over the last century. Government
programs have been instituted to take care of people’s health and welfare that
have been so poorly mismanaged, and so fraudulently financed, that there is no
disputing that the government debt that is currently being incurred will have
to be paid for by your grandchildren.

To
put it another way, our culture has drifted so far away from the Biblical
pattern of the elder providing for the younger, that more and more we see young
people placed into situations where they have to take care of their
grandparents for the old folks to be able to survive. The way the young people
take care of their grandparents is not only by nursing them when they are in
ill health, as has always and properly been the case with the aged, but also by
paying taxes throughout their lifetime to finance the care given
to their grandparents long after their grandparents have passed on. It is a
very bad situation all the way around. I am not suggesting that you or I not
make use of Medicare or Medi-Cal, or Social Security, but that those and other
entitlement programs, along with a burdensome tax structure that penalizes
those who receive inheritances, were set up by Congress in such a way that
grandparents end up taking today from their grandchildren’s future in the form
of future taxes instead of giving to their grandchildren the inheritance God’s
Word indicates we should give them.

Do
I have some suggestions for grandparents who are troubled about robbing Peter to
pay Paul, or more specifically, taking from your grandchildren’s future to pay
for the government programs we presently make use of, which is how government
has things set up at present? The first thing I would suggest is that we decide
to avoid the mindset reflected by that recreational vehicle bumper sticker that
reads, “Spending Our Children’s Inheritance.” Those folks are actually spending
their grandchildren’s inheritance, and it is despicable. However, I am well
known not to be a businessman by those who know me well. Therefore, I would
hardly try to give anyone business advice beyond wisdom that is clearly
declared in the Bible. Instead, I want to bring to your attention something far
more important than money or property to leave behind as an inheritance for
your grandchildren.

This
morning, I want to speak to you grandparents, and the rest of us who are
grandparents to be, about what kind of legacy you plan on leaving to your
grandchildren:

First, TO BE A GOOD
GRANDPARENT, LEAVE TO YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WELL-RAISED
PARENTS

There
used to exist this notion that all that was needed to properly raise kids was
shelter over their heads and food for their bodies, and everything else will
pretty much take care of itself. I know of no thinking person who accepts that
notion any longer. The idea that children grow up spiritually neutral, and
parents should allow them to make up their own minds what kind of religious
convictions to embrace, is really based upon faulty reasoning. On one hand,
nothing like that philosophy can be found anywhere in the Bible. In God’s Word,
you find commandments directed to parents about teaching spiritual truths to
children with the following wording, Deuteronomy 6.7: “And thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and
when thou risest up.” This and other commands of this type leave no room for
parents to govern their children so loosely that little ones, who are born
without wisdom, should be left to themselves to decide between good and evil,
between right and wrong.

Why
not? Allow me to illustrate a well-established Bible doctrine with a true
account from the lives of two men, a godly father, and his son. I read the
account of a Baptist historian:

The
name of Rev. Isaac Case should not be omitted in this connection, for he has
been justly styled the prince of pioneer missionaries in Maine.
His labors were abundant, and his footprints are seen in all parts of the
State. I saw him frequently in his old age and heard him preach, but never
could discover the secret of his remarkable power. I once inquired of his son
his estimate of his father’s abilities. He replied, in substance, that his
father had a remarkably quick mind, could easily solve the most difficult
problems, and when discussing questions with other men would be the first to
reach a conclusion, and without seeming to enter into an argument would
invariably bring them to his way of thinking. Whereupon I asked him why his
father had not convinced him that it was his duty to attend church, for, though
living within my parish, he never appeared in church on the Sabbath, and he
replied, “Grace is not hereditary, depravity is.”[1]

Isaac
Case raised his son properly, and did not leave him to himself. How, then, can
you raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, only to see
them turn out badly, or to turn out worldly? Keeping in mind that children,
your children, your grandchildren’s parents, cannot turn out well unless they
are raised well, keep also in mind that the tendency with children is to turn
out badly. Thus, not only do you do yourself a great service in your old age by
raising your children well, but you also do your future grandchildren a great
service if you can give them Christian parents.

Make
no mistake about it, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”[2]
When death occurs, as it must occur, the godless and the Christless will suffer
the torment of the damned.[3] You do not
want that fate awaiting your grandchildren when their time comes. When you give
your grandchildren Christian parents, which is to say your sons and daughters
who themselves are Christian people, they will be raised in the hearing and
under the influence of the gospel, which if they obey will result in their
salvation. However, if you raise secular, profane, never-go-to-church-on-Sunday
children you will certainly have grandchildren who are a shame to their mothers
and who will treat their grandparents disrespectfully. Who would want to give
such grandchildren that type of an inheritance?

You
youngsters, and you young couples, and you who have children still living at
home. Your most lasting gift to your grandchildren will be their parents, your
own children. Make sure you raise them in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord. If you do that, your grandchildren will love you and thank God for you
forever.

Next, TO BE A GOOD
GRANDPARENT, LEAVE FOR YOUR GRANDCHILDREN A WELL-WORN
PATH

There
are no guarantees in life, to be sure. It is possible to do your very best in
the rearing of a child, only to be bitterly disappointed when that child goes badly.
To raise up a child only to see that kid turn herself over to fornication, or
to turn himself over to drugs, booze, and thievery, is a heartbreaking
disappointment. However, to helplessly stand by while your own child raises
your grandchild in a godless and wicked environment, can be doubly
discouraging. Do not think, however, that you are completely without influence
in your grandchildren’s lives. Do not think the LORD’s
hand is not shortened that it cannot save.[4]
Not only is God able to reach into the heart of your wayward child in answer to
your prayers to turn your grandchild’s home environment completely around, but
God is also able to reach across the span of a generation to use a grandfather
or grandmother as a godly influence in a grandchild’s life, if that grandparent
is godly.

I
use myself as an example: For two weeks of every summer, we would vacation in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, with my paternal grandparents. Oh,
how I loved them. They attended church every Sunday, though I do not recall
that we ever attended with them. We stayed at their house while they went to
services, since they would never think of staying home from church just because
family was visiting. They also read their Bibles at the kitchen table every
morning they were not in church, though I have no recollection of ever accepting
their invitations to sit down for a minute or two to join them. In short, I can
remember no conscious influence on me from my grandparents, though I listened
to them praying for me and my brother. Why, then, did I decide that I was to be
identified as a Baptist on my dog tags when I was sworn into the military? Why
did I decide to accept that first invitation to church after my conversion, and
attend a Baptist church? I have never thought about such questions, until this
week while preparing this message. Then I realized the answer.

My
friends, my grandparents left a well-worn path by their habits of life. Though
I am sure I looked to them to be quite the hopeless case, raised in a
completely non-Christian home by their son and daughter in law, they
prayerfully, diligently, habitually, and in godly fashion, went about their
business of worshiping, serving, and honoring God on a daily basis. Though I
was not aware of their influence at the time, their influence was nevertheless
very real, and I am sure was useful to God to set the course for my life
without my awareness.

Turn
to Hebrews chapter 11, where we see evidence of Abraham’s influence on his
grandson, Jacob. Read verses 9-10 with me:

9By faith
he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

10For he
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is
God.

You have to read
Hebrews 11 very carefully to notice that we are here told that Abraham lived
with his son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob. This means that, though we are
not specifically told this in the Genesis account of their lives, the godly
influence of Abraham was not far away during Jacob’s infancy and youth, was in
Jacob’s memory when he left to journey to the east to marry Rachel and Leah and
sire twelve children, and was once again in Jacob’s life when he returned to
live with his grandfather and father until they passed from this life. Thus,
though we know that God dealt very powerfully in the life of Abraham, and then
Isaac, and Jacob, what is implied but not specifically stated is the well-worn
path that Abraham marked for his grandson to see. It was the habits of his
life, to worship and glorify Almighty God, habits and patterns of living that a
grandchild could actually see and end up being influenced by.

One
of our church member’s mom and dad left well-worn paths for their grandchildren
to follow. His wife’s widowed mother also left a well-worn path for her
grandchildren to follow. My dad’s mom and dad left a well-worn path for me to
follow, as father Abraham did for his grandson, Jacob. Ordinarily, you cannot
raise your grandchildren yourself. Typically, your children must perform that
job. However, you can by the living of your own life, you do by the living of
your own life, leave a well-worn path for your grandchildren to follow.

Grandparents,
please make sure your well-worn path leads first to the cross of Calvary,
and then onward to heaven. You never know when your grandchild will wander
through the pastures of life and will need to come across his grandparent’s
path to straighten out the direction of his own life. If your grandchildren
follow the path you have worn, where will it take them? I want my path to lead
my grandchildren to Christ and to heaven.

Finally, TO BE A
GOOD GRANDPARENT, GIVE TO YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WELL-REHEARSED
PREACHMENTS

I
have recently read two books about Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence
Thomas.[5] In both
the autobiography and the biography of his life great prominence is given to
his grandfather, who he referred to as Daddy his whole life. Daddy was a
remarkable man in the Jim Crow south in an age when the severest racial
discrimination was practiced every day. Yet Clarence Thomas remembers two
things about his grandfather, his manner of life and the things he said over
and over again, his preachments. How does Clarence Thomas describe his
grandfather? As the greatest man I have ever known.

How
does a man who never went past third grade, and who was described as a severe
disciplinarian who never showed his grandchildren affection, come to be
described by one of the most prominent men in our country as the greatest man
he had ever known? First, he left a well-worn path for his two grandsons to
follow. I have already dealt with that topic. Second, he filled his grandchildren’s
heads with sayings and truths, with observations about life, and with the
wisdom born of suffering and experience. I only wish Justice Thomas’
grandfather had been a Christian.

By
the very nature of things related to aging and infirmity, grandchildren never
see their grandparents in their prime of life, do not yet benefit from the
experiences of life that only time provides, meaning that grandparents have
their greatest impact on their grandchildren’s lives by what they say to them,
the stories they tell them, the pronouncements they make to them, and the
sermons in a sentence they repeat over and over and over again for young minds
to remember for many years.

It
is sad that so many grandparents these days give no thought to passing anything
on to their grandchildren, but want their grandchildren to give to them
attention and affection. Wise grandparents, on the other hand, know that you
will never be as loved by the young as much as you love the young. Therefore,
the time spent with grandchildren should be a time of story telling, a time of
reflecting, a time of imparting wisdom, a time of giving to them the things you
have prepared to say to them since the last time you saw them.

What
should grandparents say to their grandchildren? Though I am not a grandfather
yet, I have given prayerful thought to what I will say to my grandchildren if
God gives me opportunity: I will tell them that time is short, and that before
long I will no longer be around for them. However, it may well be that though
we are separated for a time by death, we can be reunited once again, if both
grandparents and grandchildren are Christians. Next, I will rehearse for them
the experiences of my life, my successes, and my failures, my delights as well
as my disappointments, so they will learn what life is really like. Life is
hard, full of unexpected turns, and must be prepared for as best you can. Of
course, to help my grandchildren prepare for life I will tell them of God’s
dealings with me leading to Christ and God’s dealings with me since I met the
Savior. How can I love my grandchildren without telling them of Jesus? By the
time I am a grandfather, it will then be too late to give my grandchildren a
well-raised mother, since she will already by then be raised. I must prepare
for that now, before the grandchildren are born. However, even if the
grandchildren are already born, a grandparent can begin walking a well-worn
path for them to follow, and provide well-rehearsed preachments for them to
remember. Oh, the glory of someday hearing my grandchildren sing “Faith Of Our
Fathers” from my place in heaven.

My
friends, despite many notions to the contrary, there is no such thing as a
fellow who is his own man, uninfluenced by those in his life as he grew up. Though
God’s plan is most usually for our moms and dads to be the most significant
influences in our life, the influences of grandparents can be significant. For
example: Though it was not in any way intentional with me, it has turned out
that my personality is far more like my two grandfathers than my own dad, and
my religious convictions are quite similar to both grandfathers, while not
being in any way similar to my father’s beliefs.

I
say that to say this: You grandparents are more influential than you think you
are. You are so important, as I have always recognized how very much I loved
and wanted my grandparents in my life. The important consideration, however, is
what kind of influence you decide to be in your grandchildren’s lives. Your
greatest contribution can be giving to your grandkids well-raised parents. This
is accomplished when you do everything you can to see your own children
converted to Jesus Christ and conscientiously prepared for a life of service to
God. However, even if you did not raise your kids to be Christians, and even if
they are not now believers in Jesus Christ, there is still time for you to set
before your grandkids the well-worn path and well-rehearsed preachments. Distinguish
yourself from the rest of your generation, who are focused only on what
benefits they can obtain at the expense of your grandchildren’s generation, by
dedicating yourself to giving of yourself to minister to the spiritual needs of
your grandchildren, as my grandparents did for me.

Are
you interested in being that kind of grandmother, that kind of grandfather? If
you are, perhaps you and I should go to lunch someday and talk about how that
can be achieved in your life for your grandchildren. I do not want my
grandchildren to live godless lives and end up in Hell after all is said and
done, and neither do you.

Let
us team up to become the kind of spiritually helpful grandparents I had when I
was a kid. Give me a call so we can discuss how you can invest your remaining
time on earth in the lives of your grandchildren.

[1] This account quoted in David L. Cummins and W. Wayne
Thompson, This Day In Baptist History II, (Greenville, SC: BJU Press, 2000), pages 498-499.